AB de Villiers will play for Tshwane Spartans, which is based at his long-time home ground Centurion. (File Photo)

Batting star AB de Villiers on Monday was listed among the top twelve cricketers to feature in South Africa’s new Mzansi Super League Twenty20 tournament. The cricket board of the country at a media briefing released a list of twelve marquee players, which included six South African and six overseas cricketers. A total of six teams will compete for their services in a draft in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

The six overseas cricketers who are included in the list of marquee players are Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Rashid Khan.

Among the designated South African cricketers, De Villiers heads the list. He will play for Tshwane Spartans, which is based at his long-time home ground Centurion. Faf du Plessis will represent Paarl Rocks in the Cape Winelands, Hashim Amla for Durban Heat, JP Duminy for Cape Town Blitz, Kagiso Rabada for Jozi Stars in Johannesburg and Imran Tahir for the Port-Elizabeth based Nelson Mandela Bay Giants.

The one-month league, which is named after a colloquial term for South Africa, is scheduled to begin from November 15. Cricket South Africa chief executive Thabang Moroe during the media briefing said that a number of international cricketers want to be a part of the T-20 league.

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“We have received applications from over 200 top international players who expressed interest in playing in this inaugural tournament and will have their names in the hat ahead of the player draft process,” the chief was quoted by news agency AFP.

Following the axing of former chief executive Haroon Lorgat and also a monetary loss of an estimated $14 million, the South Africa cricket board had last year failed to stage a major Twenty20 tournament.